


Black

by XavierLensherr



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blind Castiel, Deaf Dean Winchester, M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-04-11 21:09:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4452443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XavierLensherr/pseuds/XavierLensherr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is in black and white.<br/>We’ll that’s everyone says.<br/>When you meet your soulmate, the world is meant to bleed into colour.<br/>But for Castiel Novak, that would never happen</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came about from a short story competition for school (although it was only 1500 words and not Destiel) so this is just an expansion on that story, with a few tweaks and extensions. 
> 
> I also know nothing much about the deaf and blind community, so please tell me if I get something wrong!

_-... .-.. .- -.-. -.-_

The world is in black and white.

We’ll that’s everyone says.

When you meet your soulmate, the world is meant to bleed into colour.

But for Castiel Novak, that would never happen.

* * *

**Castiel**

 

_‘Gabriel’_

_‘Gabriel’_

_‘Gabriel’_

Castiel sighed at the sound of his phone announcing that Gabriel was calling, waking him up from a light slumber. Gabe might be his brother, but he had a loud personality only a few could tolerate. Castiel was no exception, Gabe might be his brother but he was still annoying.He put his hand in the general direction of the sound, quietly praying he’d find the phone before it stopped ringing. His hand made contact with the glass and the voice of Gabriel Novak filled the room, “Good Morning, Vietnam!”

Cas sighed, “You know I hate that movie Gabriel.”

“Stop being a party pooper Cassie. That movie’s a classic.”

“Too some,” He paused, maybe he would have liked that movie more if he had actually been able to see Robin Williams face but fate had dealt him the cards of the joy of being blind, “So how are you going Gabe?”

“Fantastic! Absolutely flipping fantastic.”

Cas could literally hear the sarcasm bleeding through the phone, “So I take it the date didn’t go as well as planned?”

“No, no, no…It was good. She was-”

“Just no colours?” Cas finished.

“Not a drop. Cas I’m going to die alone, in a black and white world-”

“Gabe your only 27.”

“I’m too old. I might as well be drinking prune juice.”

Cas sighed for the second time in three minutes, Gabriel had that effect on people, “How about you tell me more about your first world problems in about half an hour over coffee at our usual place?”

“Sounds reasonably well.”

“Okay, talk to you later Gabe.”

“Talk to you later John Milton.”

The phone made a sharp beep as Gabe hung up. Cas sighed for the third time that morning, rolling out bed and following the wall to his closet trying to find something decent to wear for the day. It was going to be a long day, he could feel it in his bones.

* * *

_‘Tap’_

_‘Tap’_

The sound of his cane hitting the pavement reached his ears. He had gone with the ‘college student’ look even though he had never really gone to college. At one stage he’d hoped to be a writer, but that plan didn’t really follow through. So instead here he was living off his father’s welfare.

He ran his fingers through his hair trying to flatten it down but wouldn’t lie flat. Gabriel once had called it ‘sex hair’. Needless to say, Gabe never called it that again (Cas had ‘accidently’ put salt instead of sugar into his coffee, to make sure he didn’t). Running his fingers over his braille watch,he calculated it would take him another five minutes to reach the coffee shop that he and Gabe regularly met up at. It was a quaint little place, but the pair of brothers loved it. The staff were friendly, the coffee wasn’t half bad nor was it that expensive.

‘ _Tap’_

_‘Tap’_

“Cas!” the familiar voice of Gabriel spoke out, “I thought you’d never come!”

“I would never!”

“I was only joking Cas.”

“Of course you were Gabriel.”

“Shall I show you to your seat, monsieur?”

“You don’t have to be all French about it, but yeah,” Cas felt as Gabe’s warm arm linked with his arm.

“Here you go monsieur.”

“Well thank-you, brother,” Cas sat down slowly feeling out for the chair. Although Cas had been blind since birth, there was always a second of panic when he went to sit down. As Cas sat down he heard as Gabriel pull out his own chair and also sit down.

“Heya Fella’s, what can I get you?” said a familiar voice.

“Hey Pamela, I didn’t know you were on shift today.”

“Well I’m full of surprises Cas.”

“We’ll just have the usual, thanks Pamela”

“No worries, Cas. It’ll be round in a few minutes.”

“Such a shame she didn’t turn out to be my soulmate, “Gabriel finally spoke up, “She has a nice butt.”

“Gabriel! Pamela is our friend.”  

“Oh, well. A man can dream,” Gabriel sighed, “Oh, enough about women. There’s a handsome guy entering the building right now. Oh, yes. He’s certainly your type.”

“My type? I don’t have a type Gabe.”

“Tall, handsome, guy. That’s your type. Oh God- ”

“What is it Gabe?”

“He’s walking towards us. Act casual,”

“What?”

“Shhh! Hi, I’m Gabriel and this is my baby bro Cassie. How can I help you?”

Cas waited for a deep reply of a man who he imagined to have a soft yet strong smile. But instead, Gabriel’s deep voice broke the silence.

“Hey dude, He’s seeing colour.”

“Oh, Gabe I didn’t know you swang that-”

Gabriel cut him off, “No, no. Everything is still the boring, dull grey for me.”

“Oh, right” he paused, “Well hell-”

“He can’t hear you,” Gabriel cut him off again, there was a hint of sadness to his voice.

“Oh, I see,” Castiel paused, his soulmate, the one that was meant to turn his world to colour, he couldn’t even communicate with him, “Wait, than how did you find out he’s seeing colour?”

“I might know ASL.”

‘What’s ASL?” Castiel mused.

“American Sign Langue,” Gabriel answered.

“Why do you know ASL?”

“Well there was this girl-”

“Wait, actually I don’t want to know,” Cas cut him off, “Well?”

“Well?”

“What’s his name?”

“Oh right,” there was awkward pause, “Dean. His name is Dean Winchester”

“Hi, Dean. I’m Castiel,”

“He says hi back, he’s also asking if she could see your eyes. I know an odd request”

“My eyes?”

“Yes, he wants to know what colour they are.”

“Oh right,” Castiel pulled off his glasses.

A small croaky voice spoke, “They’re gorgeous.”

Castiel smiled, he put his hand in the general direction of the voice until he came in contact with the warmth of human skin. A calloused hand guided him to a face, he ran his hand over it. His skin was scratchy with light stubble. He followed the rise and fall of bone structure, his hair was short and his ears were your average size. He didn’t do this with many people, he normally would just ask them to describe themselves but he wanted to see Dean.

“You’re beautiful.”

“Well thank you Castiel,” Gabriel mocked in a girly voice.

Castiel hit him in the arm, still smiling.


	2. Dean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, writer's block got the better of me. As well as my studies, but here is a new chapter for you guys to enjoy!

** Dean  **

**_12 Hours Previously_ **

Dean woke up with rays of light streaming in through the widow. Stifling a yawn, he reached out to phone checking for any new messages that may have come through. There were no new messages through, he hadn’t expect any anyway. Not wanting to leave the comfort and warmth of his bed he pulled out his PSP and booted up Ratchet and Clank. 

Half-an hour later, one mission completed he decided it was probably time to get out of bed. He quickly texted Sam seeing if he wanted to meet up later today for coffee. The phone vibrated against his leg as Sam’s reply came through.

_‘Sorry dude, I can’t make it I promised Jess I’d help with the wedding planning.’_

Dean sent his reply,

_‘That why you should come out for coffee. ;). Nah, don’t worry about it. Send Jess my love.’_

Dean smiled at the thought of Sam having to sit in his apartment all day with Jess. Deciding what flowers they were getting or what shape their napkins where going to be. Jess was a nice girl, well she was nice to Sam. The two had met Stanford, Sam was studying Law. Jess was studying Psychology. Apparently Jess’s friend Brady had introduced them, and well the rest is history. Dean (to say the least) was annoyed that his younger brother had found his soulmate and was able to see colour before he was, but still he was happy for him.

Breaking his train of thought, he started to make himself breakfast. It was nothing special just some toast and hazelnut spread, but he wanted to have something in his stomach before going to work. 

Dean worked at Singer Salvage Yard. His dad and the owner of the joint, Bobby were old friends. So when Dean had finished school with less than average SAT score. Bobby had given him a job, and Dean was grateful for it. Bobby had given him a spot in the office helping out with the paper work and books. Bobby had even started slowly bringing Dean out to help with the cars, but Bobby’s ASL was patchy at best. To be honest though, Dean didn’t mind it too much.

Finishing his toast he pulled on plain t-shirt, jeans, a pair of doc’s and his dad’s old leather jacket. Grabbing the keys to his baby (a 1976 Chevy Impala inherited from his father), he rushed off to work.

***

Dean sat in the ‘ _more than a little dusty_ ’ office, his eyes were starting to hurt from looking at Bobby’s books. He rubbed his eyes hoping to make it go away, but it didn’t happen. Sighing in defeat, he got up and made way out of the office to the kitchen to get some water and aspirin. Karen, Bobby’s wife, was already there, and by the looks of it to Dean baking pie.

_‘Hi Dean’,_ she signed, unlike Bobby, Karen actually knew ASL from her time as a special ed. teacher before she met Bobby.

‘ _Oh hi Karen, is that apple pie I smell?’_

_‘It is too, do you want a piece?’_

_‘That would be amazing! But I’m just looking for some aspirin.’_

_‘Well, you know where it is.’_

Dean smiled, and reached into the cupboard. Pulling out a small bottle and placing two pills in his hand and swallowed.

‘ _Do you have a headache Dean?’_

_‘Yeah, I guess sitting in that office can’t be too good for my eyes’_

_‘Then why don’t you take a break, I’m sure Bobby wouldn’t mind’_

_‘Well if you say so’_

_‘No! Go, I seriously mean it! Go and get some coffee or something!’_

Dean flashed her a smile, ‘ _Thanks Karen’_

She rolled her eyes and made a motion signalling him to leave.

‘ _What about my apple pie?’_

_‘It will be here waiting for you when you come back. Now go!’_

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran to the door, and just before he opened it he turned around and smiled at Karen. She smiled back, ‘ _GO!_ ’

***

Dean ran his fingers over the warm steering wheel of baby, tapping words in Morse code on her dashboard. Back when Sam and Dean where kids, (after the accident that killed his dad and his hearing) they would tap Morse code into each others hands as Sam and Dean hadn’t both learnt ASL at that point. It was a pretty good system, and Dean loved being able to have secret conversations with his younger brother.

But it never truly replaced being able to hear, and as much as Dean hated girly feely moments; he had cried when he found out he would never hear again. He would never hear his brother’s quirky laugh or his mother’s soft voice.  But the saddest thing that Dean never admitted to anyone was that he was more broken up about losing his hearing than losing his father. How could he ever feel anything for him after what he did to his mother, the only good thing that had came out of the life of John Winchester was baby.

John had been a drunk and absent father. The reasoning Dean had for his father’s drunkenness was he loathed the family he had made with his mother, and later on he had found a reason for the absentness as well.  It was that night he had gone to confront him about it, and as Dean tailed him to the bar an assailant had attacked them.  The man had punched Dean in the face, knocking him to the ground; rupturing his eardrums. After that Dean didn’t know what really happened as he lost conscience a few seconds later but he remembered hearing a gunshot. When he woke up, his father was dead and he couldn’t hear anything. Dean shook his head, trying to clear his head. He rounded the corner and saw a quaint coffee shop, which seemed mostly empty.  He parked the car and killed the engine, before stepping out of the car he looked around the car for his notepad. Not that many people knew ASL, and fewer knew Morse code.

He stepped through the doors and inhaled the scent of Coffee. Then out of nowhere he started to feel queasy, and- and- ‘ _it couldn’t be’_ he though to himself. Colour, it was bleeding all around. It felt as if someone had opened the floodgates and he was caught in the gush of water. He spun around until his eyes found the source. It was a man in his early to mid twenties. He didn’t know what to do, his body was screaming at him to walk towards him. Cautiously, he took a step forward. As soon as he knew it he was at the table, it was then he realized the man who was the source of the colour was sitting with somebody.  The second man started to talk, Dean starred at him in confusion for a second before pointing to his ears and pulling out his notepad. To his surprise the man started to sign at him.

_‘Sorry about that, I’m Gabriel and this is my baby bro Cassie. How can I help you?’_

_‘Hi, my name is Dean. I’m sorry for intruding but I’m seeing colour’_

Gabriel’s eyes grew wide. He said something to the man across from him- no his name was Cassie. Cassie smiled and started to say something before Gabriel cut him off.  Cassie’s smile faded, Gabe had once again turned around to face Dean.

‘ _I didn’t ask what’s your name?’_

_‘Dean- Dean Winchester’_

There was a pause from Gabriel as he told Castiel.  Cassie smiled again.

‘ _Cassie says hi.’_

_‘Well, can you say hi back. Also I know this kind sounds odd, but I want to see the colour of his eyes.’_

_‘Sure, I’ll let him know. But before anything happens I just want to let you know that Cassie is still a bit insecure about his blindness’_

Dean knotted his brow in confusion, ‘ _blindness?’_

_‘Oh I thought you knew. He’s been blind since he was born. He tries not to make a big fuss out of it, but he still has his bad days. What I’m trying to say, is say something nice.’_

Dean nodded; he was still in a state between confusion and shock. How would they ever talk to each other? If Gabriel wasn’t here what would have happened?  But all these thoughts where pushed aside when Cas took off his glasses, he eyes were the most stunning colour that his brain registered as blue. Without thinking Dean did something crazy, he spoke.

“They’re gorgeous.”

Cassie smile one of the biggest smiles Dean had ever seen. And as Cassie’s hand reached out to his face he leaned into it, savouring the touch and softness of Cassie’s hands. All of a sudden Gabriel broke into a laugh and after Cas hit him in the arm, but still he smiled; and Dean smiled along with him.

 


End file.
